1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure generally relates to outdoor ovens. Embodiments of the disclosure relate to ovens, apparatuses and systems for cooking outdoors.
2. Description of Related Art
Outdoor cooking is desirable for camping, tailgating, and other outdoor activities. Outdoor cooking devices such as grills are generally manufactured from cast aluminum to reduce manufacturing costs or to minimize weight. Access to food being cooked is either by a door on the front of the outdoor cooking device or a lid lowered over the device. Food may be cooked using direct heat by placing the food directly over the heat source. Food placed on an unheated side of the grill may be cooked by indirect heat coming from a heated side of the grill.
Outdoor cooking devices typically use either charcoal or propane as a fuel. As the fuel burns, heat in the form of direct or indirect heat cooks the food. In the case of propane fuel, propane flows from the burner through a plurality of holes, generally at a low flow rate (i.e., small flame height) to prevent burning or charring the food.
A disadvantage with some prior art cooking devices is that they are uninsulated or poorly insulated, resulting in the inefficient use of heat. For purposes of this document, the terms “uninsulated” and “poorly insulated” may refer to low thermal resistance properties. A solid wall with high thermal conductance may be uninsulated. For example, many outdoor grills are manufactured from cast aluminum. Aluminum is a lightweight metal, but has a high associated thermal conductivity. As a result, a grill manufactured from aluminum may dissipate heat through the casing. A wall constructed of a material with high thermal resistance but having openings for heat to escape and having hinges, fittings, or other features with low thermal resistance to allow heat to escape may be poorly insulated. For example, some camping ovens are manufactured to enable a user to set up and collapse the oven for ease of portability. As a result the oven may have slots or other openings. The inefficient use of heat limits the quality of food that can be cooked on the cooking device. Hot spots, burned food, undercooked food, dried out food and the like are possible when using a cooking device that has inefficient use of fuel.